The Albanian authorities seized 47 tons of smuggled cigarettes, mounting
up to 10 million USD, found inside a foreign commercial ship traveling
from Greece to Montenegro.
“Era 1”, with a flag from Tanzania and with an Ukrainian crew, had requested permission to dock in Vlore. But this Friday they left without notification, breaking this way the international maritime rules.
This move raised suspicions for the load, and the authorities stopped the vessel and interrogated the crew. After the inspections, they found that the 47 tons of cigarettes were traveling without the respective documentation.
The Albanian Customs Director, Elisa Spiropali, declared that this operation was a success, a fight without compromises against illegal actions, and that the Albanian Customs cannot be bought anymore.
“The Customs has been used often to sell the interests of Albania, but the Customs was not bought with this cargo that reached 19 million USD. We are determined to continue at any means against traffickers, smugglers and people who often have ties with the governing power. We are determined to cut any corruption tie and smuggling”, declared the Director of Customs, Elisa Spiropali.
The same stance was repeated this Saturday by Prime Minister Rama, who declared on Facebook that when 48 tons of smuggled cigarettes are caught, it means that the Customs cannot be bought as one year ago.
The lawyer of the transportation company reacted, but didn’t give any explanation why the captain didn’t have the documentation for the goods.
“The legal representatives declared that the load is regular. We are contacting with the agents in Montenegro for the original documents. The captain should have them, and I am waiting for the original documents”, declared Lawyer Idlir Tivari.
Although the ship was coming from Greece, it resulted that the goods had been loaded in Northern Cyprus. The declared destination was Montenegro. Both countries are known for fiscal evasion, while Montenegro stays on top of the European list for smuggled cigarettes, and has been accused several times by the Italian authorities for traffic.
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